A Day At The Zoo
by Mashara125
Summary: When Erza is called away on urgent Guild business she finds an eager volunteer in Juvia to take her place on Fairy Tail's Strongest Team. Their latest mission: to figure out what is driving the animals crazy at Magnolia Zoo before it has to close their doors for good. Slight Gruvia, my first attempt at a fanfic centered on them.
1. Part One

**Hello everyone. As a part of a contest (nearly a year ago now I realize, I'm so sorry!) I offered my services as a fanfic writer as a prize on DeviantArt. The winner asked me to write a Gruvia fic with no specific theme and here (finally) is my attempt at one. Not going to lie, Gruvia is not one of the pairings in Fairy Tail that I actively ship, although it is the pairing that I like the most for Gray and Juvia. Originally it was supposed to be a one-shot, but my plot monsters took over and of course it has now turned into what I am thinking is a three part series. Here is part one! Enjoy!**

**As always, I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for their use in my own creative expressions *bows***

* * *

Gray sped down the path to the guild at a fast walk, trying hard not to make it look like he was running. He was already five minutes late for meeting with the team to go on their latest job and he knew there would be no escaping a punishment from Erza now but he was not about to show up sweaty and breathing hard either. Gray had an image he had to uphold, being as cool and hard as the ice he created was a part of that image. Plus he couldn't let the fire freak see he was worried about Erza, Natsu would have broken land speed record to get to the guild on time and probably taken out half of the surrounding trees in the process. Finally he pushed through the front doors of the new guild hall, looking around for the rest of his team. Lucy, Natsu and Wendy were standing by the bar, Charle and Happy were a little ways off from them talking to Lily but Erza was nowhere to be seen. Gray sighed a breath of relief but he was also curious, it wasn't like Erza to be late for her own meeting, so why was she not there yet and why were the Exceed Squad in attendance?

"Gray, you're late," Lucy complained as he joined them at the bar. "Good thing Erza isn't here or we would never hear the end of it."

"I'm sorry," he replied sourly at her tone. "My alarm clock stopped working and I slept in. Where is Erza anyway? She isn't usually late."

"She got called away on urgent Guild business by Master Makarov," Wendy replied in her usually cheery voice. "She sent Lily in her place, and somebody else."

Gray's eyebrows rose in surprise and he crossed his arms over a bare chest. "Who?"

"Well obviously we don't know or they would be here already," Natsu answered with a snicker.

Gray turned his scowled to him, "It was just a question flame brain, what about the mission?"

"The job is at the Magnolia Zoo," Lucy explained quickly to avoid one of the famous Fairy Tail Guild Hall brawls. "Someone has been using magic on the animals and making them attack the visitors and while they create a diversion, the Mages are stealing valuables from the crowd in the confusion. The zoo keepers say they have lost over half their business the last two weeks because of this and they are desperate for it to be stopped before an animal seriously hurts someone and the zoo gets shut down permanently."

"How do they want us to help?" Natsu asked curiously. "Do we get to fight the animals? I call the elephants!"

"No, Natsu," Lucy replied with a frown. "I think they want us to stop them by finding out how they are controlling the animals and prevent them from doing it again, maybe we can even catch them in the act. Wendy, would be able to heal them if there is any permanent damage to their controlled minds?" She asked, turning the younger girl.

Wendy shrugged, "I won't know until I try, it depends how they are doing it."

Gray nodded in agreement, "I wish whoever it was would show up already so we could head over there and get started."

"Juvia is here," he heard a voice call from behind him. Gray barely managed not to flinch and jump in surprise, it shouldn't have affected him as much as it did since he was getting used to her popping up out of nowhere.

"Erza asked Juvia to accompany all of you on the mission in her place," Juvia joined their circle with a big smile on her face. "Juvia is sorry she is late for the meeting and is holding everyone up."

"That's ok," Gray replied quickly, still trying to stop his heart from beating out of his chest. "We were just getting the background information from Lucy and she will fill you in on the way, we should probably get going."

"Good idea," Natsu agreed happily turning towards the door. "I want to see some elephants! Come on Happy!" "Aye Sir!" The blue Exceed spread his wings and fluttered over Natsu's right shoulder.

"Lily," Wendy called as they walked out of the Guild Hall. "Where is Gajeel? I would have thought you would have been out on a job with him instead of coming to help us."

"Well, Erza asked me to do her a favor and Gajeel is a little… indisposed right now so I wasn't busy anyway," the black Exceed replied in his low timbered voice, sounding strangely out of place when he was in his chibi form.

"Indisposed? What does that mean?" The girl asked curiously.

"Gajeel has a cold," Lucy answered before Lily could explain. "I overheard you and Mira this morning when you told her he wouldn't be able to work for a few days because he is sick. But don't worry; I think she sent Levy over with some soup so that he gets better quickly."

"Gajeel is going to kill me…" Lily mumbled looking at the ground.

"Common guys, we should focus. Lucy, tell Juvia what you just told the rest of us so that we can start making a plan," Gray tried to get them back on track before everyone got too distracted from the task at hand. He wanted to finish this job as quickly and as painless as possible.

"Who put you in charge?" Natsu challenged, sounding annoyed. "Just because Erza isn't here doesn't mean you get to take over Gray."

"I'm not trying to take over," Gray replied, equally irritated. "I just think we need to have some direction, that's all."

"I have direction!" Natsu responded heatedly. "I know exactly where I am going! Umm… it's this way to the zoo right?" He asked pointing to south. "Never mind! I can smell the elephants," he sniffed the air and took off at a fast pace.

"Hey Natsu, wait for us!" Lucy called to him before turning to Juvia, "Ok, here is the story…" Lucy described the zoo's problems again to Juvia as they followed along. Gray sighed and followed a few steps behind them, he had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.

* * *

When they got to Magnolia Zoo the large front gate was still locked and Natsu pounded on the wooden door until the head zookeeper finally let them in. Kendra was a small middle aged woman with light brown hair and kind blue eyes that filled with relief when they explained who they were and why they were there.

"Thank you so much for coming, I'm glad that our request was answered right away." She led them through the front part of the zoo and into one of the buildings usually reserved for the staff. "So far only two animals have been affected, the tiger and one of the bears, both of them tried to break out of their enclosures but thankfully none of the guests got injured. After each incident a few people reported their wallets missing from their pockets but none of them remember quite when it could have happened, it's like there is a ghost walking around and picking pockets…"

"What happened to the animals?" Lucy asked curiously. "Did they end up going back to normal?"

"It seemed to wear off after a couple of hours but we still have them in seclusion just in case there is a lasting effect we haven't seen yet. Would you like to see them?"

"Yes please," Wendy answered. "If they are sick I might be able to sense something with the Sky Dragon's healing magic." Kendra led them further into the building until they came to a hallway with heavy metal doors. "The bear is in here and the tiger across the hall," she pointed to one of the first doors on the left. "Which would you like to see?"

"Which one was first? I want to see that one."

"The bear, follow me." Kendra took a large key ring off her belt and started to search for the right key. "When we get in there stay as far back as you can from the cage, just in case." Most of the room was a large cage with a brown colored bear napping on some hay inside. It raised one droopy eye at them as they entered but seemed uninterested and rolled over to go back to sleep. Wendy raised her hands through the bars and concentrated on the bear. "I don't usually stand this far away, but it still might work from here."

"Just be careful Wendy," Gray warned, eyeing the sleeping bear. Wendy shook her head and lowered her hands, "I can't feel anything from here, I don't think whatever happened to him is going to affect him anymore though." They left the bear and went to the tiger, but once again Wendy felt nothing.

"Whatever magic it is, it seems that it completely wears off after a while," Wendy told Kendra was they went back into the main part of the zoo.

"That is great news!" The zookeeper exclaimed with a smile. "But it would be even better if we didn't have any other animals get effected in the first place."

"Leave it to us! We will found out what is behind this in no time… now where are the elephants?" Natsu took off to find the elephant enclosure, Lucy following to keep him from getting into too much trouble.

"Well, maybe we should all split up?" Wendy asked turning to remaining members of the team.

"That might be a good idea," Gray agreed. "How many different exhibits are there, Kendra?"

"Well the main animals are out in the big enclosures where the elephants are, but the monkey house, reptile room, aquarium are all in different buildings. So far there haven't been any problems in any area except the main enclosures…"

"That makes it more likely that one of the buildings will be targeted next. Lucy and Natsu will hang around the main area so we should split up and take the buildings…" Gray continued to take charge now that Natsu wasn't around to challenge him.

"Wendy and I will go to the monkeys," Charle volunteered and Lily nodded in agreement. "Happy and I will go to the reptile room," he added.

"Reptile room?" Happy repeated with a slight quaver in his voice, "Are there big snakes?"

"Don't worry, they are all in cages," Kendra answered with a smile.

"Juvia and Gray will go to the aquarium," Juvia grabbed Gray's arm and started steering him towards the big domed building.

"Hey wait," Gray tried to resist slightly but knew that he would never escape Juvia's grip now. "We should make a better plan."

"The zoo is opening in about ten minutes," Kendra called after them. "If you see anything suspicious please let me know."

Gray sighed and resigned himself to be dragged toward the aquarium. An afternoon of looking at fish might not be that bad and with any luck they would solve this mystery quickly before Juvia turned too clingy or embarrassing.

* * *

**There is part one, I will try really hard to get part two up as soon as possible. Any feedback is always awesome!**


	2. Part Two

**Hello again! I know this is quick for me for updating, but as I said before, I would really like to get this story done so that I can focus on other things (like a new chapter of Asuka lol). Anyway, here is part two! Still hoping for three parts in total, but knowing me it might turn into 4!**

**As always I don't own Fairy Tail or the Characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for their use in my own creative expressions *bows***

* * *

A slow two hours passed as the zoo started to fill up with people, but Gray could tell that it wasn't the large crowd that would normally gather here on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Even those that did brave coming looked wary and didn't get too close to the cages and tanks just in case.

"Juvia feels so gloomy in here,"she commented as they watched people stroll around the aquarium. The main lights in the building were kept low to amplify the glowing of the tanks which made everyone's face a shadow. Gray and Juvia had been to every room so far and saw nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary except for the mood of the patrons.

"Let's move on," Gray suggested and they followed a family of four out into the largest room, which had a sign above the entrance telling them they were entering the "Shark Tank". One wall was entirely made up of clear glass and you could see a Blue Shark lazily swimming around the enclosure, its body glowing from the blue lights inside the tank. A little girl from the family who had entered before them, who looked no older than 3 years old, was gazing through the glass with wide eyes. She reached up a hand to touch the glowing tank but her mom pulled her back gently. "No honey, we must not touch," she pointed to a sign on one of the walls that read PLEASE DO NOT TAP ON THE GLASS, "Just watch the big fishy swim around his home. Look at how big his tail is!"

"Juvia does not feel so gloomy anymore," Gray had forgotten that she was standing next to him. "It makes Juvia sad that there are not more little girls enjoying the zoo."

"I hear you," Gray agreed with her and they watched the family move on to the next room. "So far though, nothing is happening here today. This might be a bust, the mages might have gotten spooked that there aren't as many people here for them to blend in with." Juvia nodded in agreement and they were just about to move on to the next exhibit when they heard somebody call out behind them.

"Hey you two!" Kendra was walking towards them waving her hand.

"Has something happened?" Gray asked urgently but the zoo keeper shook her head quickly.

"Oh no, nothing like that, I just came to tell you that I was checking in with the other groups and no one has seen anything suspicious so far. Although, we did have to stop that pink haired boy from starting and elephant stampede by trying to ride them." Gray rolled his eyes, he was used to hearing about Natsu's clownish antics and Juvia stifled a giggle.

"I also wanted to let you know that we have decided to close the zoo early. There just aren't a lot of people here and the ones that have come don't look like they are enjoying it that much, they're too afraid from the rumors of crazy animals." Kendra's voice was sad and it made Gray think about the little girl and the shark tank. Whoever this was had gone beyond just stealing, they were putting the entire zoo at risk of closing down and that made Gray angry.

"Don't worry Kendra," he replied. "If they are here, we will find them."

Just then a voice crackled over the loudspeaker system. "Attention, due to unforeseen circumstances the zoo will be closing in one hour. We are sorry for the inconvenience and please enjoy the rest of your day." Kendra smiled and waved goodbye as she made her way towards the exit.

"Juvia thinks that the zoo closing early might be a good thing."

Gray raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Why do you think so?"

"Because, it will make the thief act earlier than they wanted to, Juvia thinks they will be more likely to make a mistake then."

Gray nodded in agreement, "You have a point there, lets made another lap around."

Just as Juvia predicted, it wasn't ten minutes later before they heard yelling coming from outside.

"Let's go!" Gray called to Juvia and they both ran towards the commotion.

"Juvia thinks it is coming from the monkey house," she pointed towards a domed building and Gray noticed the people rushing out of it.

"What is going on?!" Lucy and Natsu came running up behind them.

"I don't know," Gray replied, "But we have to go help Wendy and Charle." They ran into the monkey house, racing passed people who were trying to get out as quickly as possible. It was impossible to tell which enclosure was in trouble since everyone seemed to be panicking.

"Excuse me," Lucy snagged one young man by the arm just before he could exit. "What is going on here?"

He stopped when he saw Lucy's outfit and seemed to forget about the impending doom.

"Hey, eyes up front mister!" Lucy gave him a glare.

"Oh, sorry," he looked sheepish for a second and then shook out of it, turning towards the exit again. "Somebody said one of the gorillas is trying to break out of it's cage, if I were you I would run the other way." He took off with the crowd and the Fairy Tail mages made their to the gorilla's enclosure.

"Is a gorilla even a monkey?" Gray asked as they raced past the other cages in the monkey house.

"I don't know, why are you even asking that now?" Lucy sounded annoyed.

They finally came to the scene and stopped in their tracks, a big black gorilla was going crazy in it's enclosure, ripping up grass and throwing things at a flying Happy who had somehow made it into the cage with him. Charle and Lily were also in there with their wings out, floating in the air and some of the zoo patrons were still standing around watching the scene, despite the zoo attendant's efforts to usher them out.

"Happy!" Natsu cried and ran at the bars. "Let me in there!"

"Natsu!" They turned and saw Wendy standing by a side door marked Staff Only. "I'll show you how to get into the cage." Natsu followed her through the door, Lucy right behind him.

"Juvia," Gray turned to the water mage who he knew would be by his side. "We should stay here and help evacuate the people and in case the gorilla breaks though the cage." She nodded and then joined one of the frightened zoo staff who was still trying to push people towards the exits. Gray started walking towards another group of staring people when he saw a flash, as if somebody was running towards him at high speed. He recognized it as the same kind of magic that Racer of Oracion Seis used during that group assignment they had so long ago. Gray was so shocked that he let the mage race by him into the group and as the blur flickered from person to person he realized that this was the unknown thief that took advantage of the confusion to pick the pockets of the zoo's visitors. Gray braced himself for the figure to whiz by him again; he had figured out the weakness to Racer's magic once before and managed to beat it. He could also tell that his mage was not as skilled as the fervent speedster had been; obviously they were still new at magic and didn't realize the potential of such a rare type. He didn't have to wait long since most of the people were making their way to exit, being ushered along by Juvia and the zoo staff to make sure no one ended up trampled or hurt. The mysterious mage tried to run past Gray on their way out of the monkey house and he used his fast reflexes to grab what he thought was an arm as they sped by. He nearly lost his hand hold as the force threw them both against a wall and in a tangle of arms and elbows Gray managed to subdue the thief.

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" The voice from beneath the black hood was the high pitched wail of a pre-teen girl and Gray nearly let go in shock but regained his grip once they started to fight harder against his hold.

"We need to get out of here before the gorilla breaks through his cage" he heard a zookeeper call from the door. Gray glanced up and saw that the room was now empty except for the Fairy Tail mages and zoo staff, Natsu was still in the gorilla enclosure that was being destroyed by the crazed animal.

"If you guys would just let me use my fire-" Natsu started as he dodged a big rock but was cut off by a chorus of NO!s from everyone watching.

"Time to go kid, no arguing," The girl gasped in shock as Gray scooped her up over his one shoulder and followed everyone out the exit.

"No!" The girl started to kick her legs in frustration. "You can't take me anywhere, that's kidnapping! Let me go!" Gray held her easily, ignoring the thrashing as he stopped just a few feet from the entrance to the monkey house to wait for everyone else. "I caught you stealing fair and square kid. I'm not taking you anywhere, just going to hold you until the police come."

The girl stopped fighting immediately, "The p-p-police?" She asked in a shaking voice. "Why w-would you c-call the p-police?"

Gray sighed, he hated scaring the kid, but she had to learn the responsibility of misusing her magic. "I just said I caught you robbing those people in there and I am guessing that isn't the first time either. Plus the zookeepers are going to want to know what you did to the animals to make them go all crazy like that and how to fix them before they hurt anyone."

"But that wasn't-" the girl started to speak and then quickly snapped her mouth shut.

"Wasn't what?" Gray asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," the fear was all out of her voice but Gray could still feel her body shaking over his shoulder. "You can put me down now, I promise I won't run away."

Gray snorted, "Do I look like an idiot to you? As soon as I put you down you'll bolt."

"Please mister? Please, pleases, please?" The girl begged him. "I promise I won't run, my legs are falling asleep and I hate the tingly feeling you get in them when they fall asleep."

Gray could feel himself relenting, he knew what it was like to be a kid who made a bad mistake. "Fine, but if you run…"

"I won't run!" She repeated and Gray swung her down off his shoulder, keeping a firm hold on her right arm as he set her down.

"There you g-OW!" He didn't even finish his sentence before the girl swung a leg back and kicked him right in the ankle. He managed to keep his grip on her arm as she started to pull against him to get away.

"Hey!" He yelled, trying to shake the pain out of his foot and keep hold of her at the same time. "You said you wouldn't run."

"I can't let you take me," she ground out between clenched teeth as she fought to get free; lifting her leg again she stomped down hard on his remaining foot. Gray let her go in his moment of painful surprise, almost no longer caring that the girl was going to get away. She went to take off running but before she could even turn around she ran right into Juvia who wrapped her water arms around the girl.

"Juvia cannot let you get away with hurting Gray-sama," Juvia told the girl calmly, but Gray could see the glint of malice in her eyes.

"Don't hurt her!" Gray called out, his foot and ankle still smarting from her lethal kicks. "We have to get her to tell us what she did to the animals." The girl's eyes were wide with fear and it made her look even younger. Gray could imagine how scared she would be now, when you first encountered Juvia's water body it could be a bit unnerving.

"EMILY!" All three of them turned, although the girl could only move her neck, to the sound of the cry that came from near the main enclosures. Gray was surprised to see a boy standing about ten feet away from them, not running away like the others. His face was covered in shadows from beneath his ball cap but Gray could see a green glow coming from his eyes and feel their glare on him.

"Elliot!" The girl called out. "Run! They are going to call the police; you have to get out of here!" The girl started fighting her invisible water bonds but Gray knew without counter magic there would be no way for her to break free of them.

"Green eyes…" Gray muttered to himself, trying to think of why his brain thought that was important, and then it hit him. "Juvia," he looked over the girl at her. "He has green glowing eyes, just like Bixlow."

Juvia frowned and glanced at the boy who was still watching them fiercely, "Juvia does not understand what Gray-sama means."

"Bixlow uses Seith Magic and his Figure Eyes to manipulate people. What if this kid does the same thing, only with animals instead? Animal Possession…" Everything was coming into place in Gray's head. One kid makes a diversion with the animals and the other one steals things, but he since he knew the girl was not very good at controlling her own power he could imagine that the boy would not be either, especially with one that was stronger and much harder to master.

"Juvia, you keep her here until the others come back. I have to go after that kid before he causes more trouble." He took off running, ignoring Juvia's surprised cry of "Gray-sama, wait!" The kid realized his intent and started to run away as well, but not towards the main exits to the zoo, he was leading Gray back to the murkly darkness of the aquarium.

* * *

**Two mysterious children OC's, I don't usually create OCs but these kids aren't that bad, honest. I think they will find they have lots in common with Gray and Juvia. Watch for part three! I hope to have it up soon. Thanks!**


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